During the time the developer controls the board, it can force a transition and obtain a release through creation and manipulation of a transition committee. The developer can force that committee to do a construction study within only 120 days at the association’s expense. It is our view that a comprehensive transition study cannot be done within 120 days since defects and deficiencies often do not surface until after water has had several years to work its way into or out of walls or substrates and often it takes several freeze and thaw cycles for problems to appear. Nevertheless, a release can actually be signed by this transition committee which is arguably binding on the association, before the association is even controlled by the unitowners. The developer can force this committee into mediation with the AAA, and then arguably force the association into more “non-binding” arbitration as described above. As noted above, if the non- binding arbitration is unsuccessful, the association is back to the owner- approval of litigation again. All of these costs are borne by the non-developer owners.
